Comparing the Efforts in Reducing Greenhouse Gasses - Case Study Example

Comparing the Efforts in Reducing Greenhouse Gasses by Europe and USA Some world scientists believe that the die has already been cast. For this reason they argue that no matter how hard the world especially Europe and USA try to reduce greenhouse gases now, the atmosphere will continue to warm anyway. This is so because the ocean is slow to warm up. However, most scientists are optimistic and proactive encouraging the world to take measures geared towards mitigating global warming caused by greenhouse gaseous emissions. Policy-makers have also taken action-oriented strategies towards achievement of this role. This is one of the reasons that led to the establishment of the Kyoto Protocol (2005) whose main agenda was to establish ways by which the world can mitigate environmental pollutions. For example in Europe it contributes more than one-third of greenhouse gases while US emission form more than a third of world greenhouse emissions. However, Europe and the US are using different strategies as a way of minimizing greenhouse emission. Perry and Day (14) note that the vehicle industry is one of the major emitters of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and contributes about 14% of the world’s carbon dioxide. Cars, motorcycles, trucks, scooters and buses emit a lot of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen and other fine particles. A research reveals that US cars emits about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere while that of the European stands at over 4 tons of carbon dioxide yearly. In areas where gasoline is used, it has been noted that vehicles become a significant source of lead in urban air (Parry and Day 14). This causes adverse effects on the environment. The worst of which has been the global warming. To mitigate the effects of environmental degradation caused by emissions from vehicles, Europe and USA have adopted strategies to abate it. The European Conference of Ministry of Ttransport (21) notes that Europe is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% and the USA by 7%. To ensure that this dream come true Europe through the European Commission decided to set up the European Auto-Oil Program in 1994 in collaboration with the European association for the car industry and oil to give technical advice on the development of European Union policy towards vehicle emission (Parry and Day 12). The pact highlights stringent measures to be taken against air pollution caused by passenger car emissions and other measures to be taken with regard to air pollution resulting from light commercial vehicles and the quality of diesel and petrol fuels. The dossier also contains Auto Oil program which regulates quality of fuel used, emissions from private cars, provisions that guide road worthiness testing, emissions from heavy goods vehicles and those from commercial and light vehicles. Europe has therefore put in place directives aimed at controlling this parameters with regard to the composition of diesel and petrol that impact on the level of atmospheric emissions particularly benzene, lead and sulphur. The European vehicle industry has adopted voluntary reductions in vehicle carbon monoxide emissions. The European Conference of Ministers of Transport (35) notes that ACEA’s board of directors adopted emission reduction goals of 140g/km of carbon monoxide for all new cars brought to the market. This accounts for 25% reduction from 1995 emission level. The European Union through the ACEA board of directors is currently making an attempt to ensure that the emission level for new cars is reduced to 120g/km of carbon monoxide (Parry and Day 16). In comparison to this strategy, the USA established Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 to regulate vehicle emissions requirements in the United States. This is contained in a highlight summarized in Annex B. Notable in the recent years is the established Tier 2 requirements for cars and light trucks, which is aimed at reducing emission limits and in turn lowering sulphur content of gasoline to an acceptable average limit of 30ppm (The European conference of Ministers of Transport 23). The law also requires that cars and light trucks with a tonnage of up to 10 000 lbs GVW ensure that they achieve an emission standard which require diesel and gasoline fuelled vehicles to achieve the same standards (EU Emission Trading Scheme). The US has also made effort by announcing its intention to tighten standard with regard to heavy-truck and buses and diesel-sulphur emission levels (The European conference of Ministers of Transport 36). The US has imstituted efforts to ensure that low-carbon fuels are used in the transport sectors to reduce greenhouse emissions. For example it has embarked on the use of battery technology and low carbon-energy sources as source of electricity. Battery-electric vehicle is considered one of the best ways of reducing greenhouse emission to the environment by 80%. US projects that this may help reduce emissions by 20% to 50% by the year 2050 (Addison 1). This strategy is similar by those considered by European nation passed at the Kyoto protocol. The Kyoto protocol signed by the European countries requires every nation to put an effort in trying to discover better ways of reducing carbon emissions in the transport industry. One of the strategies that were agreed upon is the use of battery-electric vehicle technology as an alternative to petrol and other fossil fuels (Parry and Day 10). Fuel economy is another strategy shared between Europe and the US as a strategy of minimizing greenhouse gas emission. For example, the US has encouraged sharing of vehicles as a way of reducing fuel usage (Parry and Day 14). This has lead to adoption of many public transport systems run by the United States government, not limited to the use of trains that carry many people at the same time. Other methods adopted include development of fuel efficient engines with low rolling resistance. This also lowers the emission of gases to the atmosphere (The European conference of Ministers of Transport 35). Europe is similarly using a similar strategy of fuel economy as a way of minimizing greenhouse emissions. The protocol signed by the European nations also encouraged nations to adopt methods that are geared towards the economy of fuel usage such as those of adopting public transport system (Hill 197). The US project that increased fuel economy could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from light duty vehicles significantly. For example per vehicle basis when compared with conventional vehicles, the greenhouse gas reduction was seen to be at 8% to 30% for gasoline vehicles, 16% for diesel vehicle, 25% to 54% for electric and 46% to 75% for plug in hybrid cars (Addison 1). Europe has adopted a system of reducing population growth as a way of reducing greenhouse emissions. Hill (197) notes that a U.S. National Academy of Science report reveals that population growth is one of the drivers of atmospheric pollution. He argues that population growth has led to an increasing growth of fossil fuels and cutting of trees, which all catalyzes carbon dioxide emission to the environment. This is contained in the Kyoto protocol on environmental management (Parry and Day 10). However, the United states on the other hand does not have a population control policy but only relies on the fact that its population has been growing at a very low rate of 1% a year as noted by Hill (197). Globalization has lead to rapid increase in industries which is perceived to be the major emitters of greenhouse gases. China and U.S. are seen to be the major emitters of industrial gases (Parry and Day 14). It is for this reason that the US is at the forefront in putting stringent measures in ensuring that environmental pollution caused by toxic chemicals from injuries are checked. The United State for example has established a US Toxic Release inventory which requires all the industries to report releases to the atmosphere especially when chemical substance released is more than 650 designated as toxic (Addison 1). Companies are also required to report all releases to land, air, and water, and those transferred to sewage plants, incinerators, recyclers, deep well injection or disposal. The measure also requires that all companies report methods they use to reduce emissions (Parry and Day 13). After signing of the Kyoto protocol in 2005, large industries are expected to obtain permit that gives them a go ahead to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (Parry and Day 11). This is what led to the establishment of “emission trading scheme’ which enables industries that exceed individual carbon emission targets of the Kyoto protocol to buy allowances from greener ones. We also find that in order for the Europe to minimize the economic cost of its commitment to minimize greenhouse emissions under the Kyoto protocol, European countries agreed that an internal market which would enable industries to trade carbon emissions permits be set up. The strategy is also to ensure that those industries that exceed the emission limits under the Kyoto protocol are to be fined up to a tune of 40 sterling pounds per excess carbon emission (Parry and Day 11). The US is also using the price carbon strategy as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions as noted by Addison (1). The mechanisms here include federal government’s motor vehicle fuel tax, and trade system under which the emission of greenhouse gas allowances are usually traded in the market to reduce overall emission and the carbon tax (Addison 1). The transport greenhouse gas emission is considered to constitute 29% of the US total emission. It is for this high percentage that the US has created a GREET 1.8 model to assist in measuring greenhouse gas emissions from source to wheel. European nations have on the other hand have also adopted a similar strategy as noted by (Parry and Day 10). This is due to the fact that this mainly depends on the tax regime of individual nations. From the strategies noted above, it is in my opinion that the effort used by the US is better than that of Europe. This is due to the fact that its strategy covers all sectors that the state considers to cause a lot of gaseous emissions to the environment. Some of the best strategies evident in this case include those of fuel economy, carbon price and US toxic release inventory. In conclusion, greenhouse gas emission has been considered to be one of the major contributors of climate change which has been witnessed in the recent times. A survey reveals that the major emitters are the development countries such as the US and the Europe. Major emissions come from industries, transport sectors, and other anthropogenic activities such as combustion of fossil fuels. The effect has been so devastating which required an intervention by all nations. This led to the signing of the Kyoto protocol on the environmental management to reduce the greenhouse emotions. However, the US being one of the developed nation and major emitter refused to sign the Kyoto protocol. The Kyoto protocol has several different agencies helping to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses. Europe and U.S. have perused certain strategies in an attempt to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Some as similar while other are not. The similarities are mainly seen in terms of the approach to fuel economy. All the strategies having been analyzed, it is evident that the strategy used by the US would help reduce greenhouse emission in the long run. It is therefore in my opinion that both the United States and Europe should come up with a common strategy aimed at mitigating greenhouse gaseous emissions instead pursuing different strategies. Work Cited Addison, John. Transportation’s Role in Reducing U.S Greenhouse Gas Emissions. April, 2010. 3rd Mach 2012. Web. http://www.cleantechblog.com/2010/05/transportations-role-in-reducing-us.html. EU Emission Trading Scheme. 2011. 3rd Mach 2012. Web. http://www.euractiv.com/climate-change/eu-emissions-trading-scheme/article-133629. Hill, Marquita. Understanding Environmental pollution. York: Cambridge University Press. 2010. Print. Parry, Ian & Day, Felicia. Issues of the day: 100 Commentaries on climate, energy, the environment, transportation and public health Policy. Washing DC: Earthscan. 2010. Print. The European Conference of Ministers of Transport. Vehicle emission reduction. New York: OECD Publishing. 2001. Print. Read More